Card Benefits

Earning on this card in not great. You get one AA mile per dollar on all purchases and 2 AA miles per dollar on eligible American Airlines purchases.

You also have the ability to earn $3,000 Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQDs) when you spend $25,000 each calendar year. If you spend $5,000 more you also get $100 American Airlines Flight Discount (the “Flight Discount”) after you spend $30,000 or more during your cardmembership year.

Earn 2X miles for every $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases

Earn 1X miles for every $1 spent on all other purchases

Group 1 boarding

First checked bag free for the primary cardmember and up to four companions on eligible bags when traveling on domestic itineraries operated by American Airlines

No foreign transaction fees when you make purchases outside the U.S.

Receive 25 percent in-flight savings on food, beverages and headsets

Each anniversary year, earn a Companion Certificate good for 1 guest at $99 (plus taxes and fees) after spending $20,000 on purchases and your account remains open for 45 days after your anniversary date.

Applying for the Card

Barclay will usually only approve you for a card every 6 months. If you have a Barclay card, is bet to put some spend on it before applying for another card. They don’t like dormant cardholders. There’s no real limit on the number of cards you can have with Barclay.

They also have a 6/24 rule. That means that they might not approve you if you’ve had more than 6 new cards in the last 24 months. I say might because we’re not sure if it still applies, and even before it was never really a hard rule.

Now they also added the following language:

In addition, you may not be eligible for this offer if, at any time during our relationship with you, we have cause, as determined by us in our sole discretion, to suspect that the account is being obtained or will be used for abusive or gaming activity (such as, but not limited to, obtaining or using the account to maximize rewards earned in a manner that is not consistent with typical consumer activity and/or multiple credit card account applications/openings).

Guru’s Wrap-Up

This is a different offer from the previous 60K that was available until recently. You get 10,000 less miles but also a Companion Certificate for $99 that comes with some limitations (same as the one you earn after after spending $20K). Whether this is better or worse than the previous offer, it really depends on what value you can get out of the Companion Certificate.